The Black Cloak
by CathyCullen16
Summary: This is not about a cloak that is black or have anything to do with the Black family. The Black Cloaks are an elite force or warrior/bodyguards that are trained in both muggle and magical defenses. Please give it a chance and R&R. Rating may change for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Black Cloaks are an elite force of warrior/bodyguards trained in both Muggle and magical defense practices. The Black Cloaks are not my original idea. They belong to Snapegirlkmf in the story Lily's Defender, so a special thanks to you for letting me play around with your idea and helping me develop my own. And in case you didn't already know; I'm not JK Rowling. So…..I don't own anything that may have come from the books in the Harry Potter Series that I love so dearly. Enjoy!

"Lissy?" I heard my little eight year old sister call as I stepped out of my room at the Leaky Cauldron. "Lissy!" She said running to me it had been two months since I'd last seen her at my graduation from The Black Cloak Academy. I knew that my family would be here because my dad's contract was to attend this particular social gathering. My dad is a Black Cloak coming from an extremely long line of well-known and celebrated Black Cloaks and I swear I've never seen him any more proud than he was of me the day I graduated. His contract, Jerald Duggurd, is a wealthy aristocrat and being so was expected to attend major events like the one being thrown by the Minister of Magic today for celebrating the ten year success of his son's marriage. Unfortunately, Mr. Duggurd had no next of kin therefore I was unable to contract anyone from his family immediately after graduation, which was the common practice. Black Cloaks often ran in families. A Black Cloak's children usually became a Black Cloak and a member of a contract's family would often hire Black Cloaks from the same family, usually by generation.

"Krissy!" I crouched down to hug her. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too!" She beamed at me. "You look so pretty!" I was wearing a tea length true blue dress that was just a shade darker than my eyes, with spaghetti straps; it hugged my body from the waist up and had a slightly poofy skirt. I had curled my long brown hair and pinned it back out of my face.

"Thank you little one. You are looking particularly beautiful yourself." She was wearing a light pink dress much like my own except hers had short puffed sleeves. Her short blonde hair was also curled but hung down naturally.

"Thank you," she said acting all proper.

"Where are mum and dad?" I quizzed her.

"Dad's with his contract and mum is getting ready. I snuck off to come and you."

"Krissy," I scolded her "you know better than to sneak off." Mum and dad probably knew that she was off to find me but still.

She frowned, "I'm sorry, are you mad Lissy? Please don't be mad."

I wiped the tears from her pretty blue eyes and felt a tug at my heart. "I won't be mad if you promise to never sneak off again." I knew that dad taught would have taught her that you never break promises for any reason, that's what made a Black Cloak so honorable. Honesty, Truth and Trust; a Black Cloaks motto.

"I promise," she smiled. We hugged and then headed downstairs to wait for mum and dad.

The party was going rather well. Everyone was mingling merrily and it was the perfect opportunity for me to search for a potential contract; to make a good impression. It's extremely hard to get your first contract seeing as you don't have any reputation, but even I, with my father's name/reputation behind me and graduating top of my class, was having a hard time. I had no experience.

"Ms. Cleary" I heard a voice behind me say. I'd been searching for the next person I should talk to but it seems someone had sought me out. I turned to find none other than Severus Snape, dressed in an all-black suit and honestly looking rather Malfoy-ish; in other words his appearance screamed Death Eater. "Or should I say, Black Cleary."

"Professor?" I said cautiously.

"Congratulations on your achievement; it's nice to see you again," he said politely.

"Yep." I said coldly.

"Well," he said drawing in a breath "I'm going to cut to the chase. I'm here on business. I need you to come with me."

"Ha," I laughed. "You expect me to just follow you to some unknown destination when everyone suspects you of being a Death Eater. Yeah, right. Way to walk to my death."

"It's Dumbledore that wants a word with you. Not me" He stated seriously "or the Dark Lord."

For some odd reason my instincts told me to trust him while my head shouted 'NO!' and if I'd learned anything at the Academy it was to trust my instincts over all else. I took a deep breath and a leap of faith, "Alright let's go then."

He looked at me like I'd just lost my mind, not that I blame him. Inwardly I was giving myself the same look.

"Okay then," he said finally. "This way." He offered me his arm like a gentleman. Instinct took over once again and I wrapped my arm around his. With that he led me from the ballroom through the entrance hall and out of the front door as casually as if he did this every day.

We walked for a good five minutes as the sun set and dark took over, rounding about a corner every few blocks. He led me down a dark ally and a chill crept down my spine as we headed toward the dead end.

"We apparate here." He pointed down towards the cement.

"Okay." I said. Beginning to doubt my instincts, but not giving myself time to think about it I grabbed hold of his arm for side along apparition, not knowing where we were headed and he wasted no time. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by the warmth of someone's home instead of cold darkness. A man was sitting in an armchair across from us obviously awaiting our arrival. My first thought had been that this man was Dumbledore but upon observing him I realized that he was not. This man was much too thin and looked far more burdened than I'd ever seen the bubbly Dumbledore.

"Abeforth," Professor Snape nodded politely towards the old man. "Thank you for allow-"

"Yeah, yeah, quit with the formalities and get a move on. I'd liked to go to bed." Snape was rudely cut off.

Again he wasted no time in grabbing my wrist and pulling me into the fireplace and flooing us to "number twelve Grimald Place."

The place oozed with dark magic and I began to regret my decision to trust the greasy git, but all that quickly went away when I saw the reassuring face of Dumbledore appear in the doorway.

"Ahh. Perfect timing Severus, as per usual. Melissa Cleary?" He nodded towards me. I simply nodded in return. "Good. This way."

He lead us into a small kitchen were a few other people sat. All members of the order; Molly and Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Kingsley Shackelbolt. I hadn't ever really known any of them but I'd met them all at some point in time. A Black Cloak never forgets a face or the name that goes with it.

"Come and sit." Dumbledore gestured towards a chair across from where he had just sat down. I did what he asked and while doing so noticed that all eyes were trained on me. What the bloody hell was going on?

"Ms. Cleary," Dumbledore cleared his throat "I'm sure you must be wondering why I had Severus bring you here?" I said nothing so he went on to continue. "You see, I am in need of your assistance. Severus is a spy, I'm sure you've observed that much. While he has done a marvelous job, we are in need of another body to do as he is and you seem like the perfect candidate and-"

"No." I cut him off with a stern voice, not liking where he was headed.

"We need you. You're perfectly trained and amazingly strong and talented. It's a well-known fact that you will most likely become one of the best Black Cloaks ever, having come from such well-bred line. "

"No." Didn't he understand what this would mean; that I would have to appear to turn back on everything I've known. This would ruin me and my family.

"And you don't have a contract yet. Offer_ him_ your service."

"No!" I shouted standing up, accidentally knocking my chair over, knowing full well that the _"him"_ he was referring to was Voldemort. The others flinched, but Dumbledore met my eyes with determination. "There is no way in Hell that I will ever pledge my allegiance to a wizard that is practicing dark magic of any sort. I will not shame my peers in such a way." My breathing became uneasy and I was becoming overwhelmed by my emotions. I could never let my emotions get the best of me. Discipline. It's all about discipline.

"Ms. Cleary-"

"It's Black Cleary, and don't you ever forget that!"

I turned and made my way to the door only then noticing people that hadn't been in the room before standing in the way; Sirius Black, Nyphadora Tonks, and Alastor Moody. This was bad, how could I have missed their arrival? I'm supposed to be aware of my surroundings, no matter what. I wasn't going to be as good of a Black Cloak as everyone expected if I kept this up.

"My apologies Black Cleary. I will not stop you from leaving, but answer me this, if you had the option to protect one life versus saving countless others what would you choose to do?"

I turned back to face him. "I would save the countless others of course, given that I do not have a contract." I stated without a second thought. If there were a contract I would be obligated to save their life above all others.

"No matter the price it cost you?"

"Of course," No sooner had the words left my mouth than I'd realized what he was playing at. He had me. I knew it in that moment as well as he did. A Black Cloak would pay any price to save even one life and he knew it. Even if that price meant one had to seemingly betray their peers. Tears almost fell from my eyes as I said, in an almost inaudible whisper, "I'll do it."

I picked up my chair and sat down as everyone else move to sit in seats of their own. Apparently this was a meeting for the order. There was a small applause as Dumbledore announced, to those who had missed it, what it was that I'd be doing and officially introduced me as the newest order member. I said nothing the entire time and didn't hear anything else that was said the rest of the meeting.

I hadn't even realized that the meeting was over until I felt someone grab my arm trying to pull me out of the chair. It's lucky that Snape had quick reflexes because I nearly punched him square in the nose not realizing it was him.

"Bloody hell," he said standing up. "I know this must be hard for you but could you please try not to kill me."

"Sorry" was all I could muster. We were alone in the room, save for Molly cleaning up and her husband helping her. When had everyone left?

"You didn't catch anything from that meeting, did you?" he asked, reading between the lines.

I shook my head.

"Well," he sighed "We are supposed to go to the Dark Lord tonight."

"What?" I said shocked. How could Dumbledore expect this of me so soon? I have had no preparation.

"Yes, so pull yourself together unless you want this to be completely pointless. Oh, and you should start calling him the Dark Lord. He likes to be addressed as My Lord. He likes bowing and groveling and all that stuff that will make you want to puke. Be as straight to the point as possible and avoid eye contact until he decides you're worthy enough to look at him. Don't stare at him or his snake either." He shivered slightly. "The more loyal you sound to his cause the better. Your goal is to become as important to him as possible, understand?"

"Yes," I said my voice low.

"Be confident and use occlumency or he'll see right through you. At the same time you will need to allow him into your mind and not show him anything that will lead him to the conclusion of your true loyalty. Don't tell him that your part of the order as I am. He must think it as his idea which, obviously will have to come later. Got it?"

"I think so."

"Act like a snobby _pure blood_ and don't 'think so', know so. At least you have a plus on your side."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a pure blood, unless I've missed something." He paused making sure he didn't miss anything. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark, extremely dark. Professor Snape led the way though I could barely make out his figure. We went through a gate, the professor grasping my hand and making some sort of solute as the ward s allowed us through and passed many trees and went towards an extremely large manor. The professor stopped momentarily muttering something like "stupid peacocks."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Sure." I said really not caring, I already had enough to deal with.

"It's just of all the things he could do with his money," he started walking again "and he spends it on peacocks, white ones at that."

We reached the front entrance and he knocked rather lightly. The door was answered immediately by a rather stressed looking man. He was short and pudgy with gray hair and seemed very…rat-like, to be frank. "Severus" the man bowed his head while stepping aside to allow us entrance.

"Wormtail" he replied with a superior tone stepping inside the manor. I followed suit of course. "I request an audience with the Dark Lord."

"Of course" the pudgy man said bowing and left the room, leaving us to wait in the atrium.

We stood there in awkward silence for a good five minutes before I heard a voice. "Ah, Severus I see you brought us a guest" a man who I assumed to be the Dark Lord greeted smiling. He was tall and his skin was so pale you could almost see through it. He had slits for nostrils, red eyes and absolutely no hair. This had to be, no doubt the result of using some kind of extremely dark magic. His eyes seemed to linger on me for a minute, looking me up and down. If hadn't known any better I'd say he was 'checking me out', as my friends would've said. I mentally shivered.

"My Lord" Professor Snape addressed him bowing his head and took the silence as his cue to speak "this is Black Cleary."

"Black?" he asked to be sure he heard correctly, his face falling hard and emotionless. He seemed to despise the very title.

"Yes, my Lord." I answered, bowing my head slightly.

He glared daggers into me and my heart rate noticeably increased. "Did I ask you to speak?" he snarled.

I did not reply so he turned back to professor Snape. "Why did you bring a Black here?" He asked angrily.

"My Lord, I have spoken with her and she supports your views reguardless of what she has been taught by her peers. I thought that she would be a good recruit and she was willing. I have taught her when she attended school at Hogwarts. She has always had a tendency to lean towards the dark arts but I'd never really thought anything of it until recently when she approached me," he replied matter-of-factly. Of course, most of that was a lie. The Dark Lord seemed to be searching for something in his eyes and I figured he was using Legimency. He then turned to me and did the same and lucky for me, I had always been good at Occlumency so I didn't have all that much trouble filtering my thoughts, trying to back up the professor's words.

"Leave us" the Dark Lord looked to professor Snape. He seemed to flinch slightly and a scared look flashed on his face but he bowed his head and left out of the front door without another word.

"Cleary" he smiled venomously "follow me." He turned and walked toward the grand staircase and began on his way quickening his stride as he went and I followed as I was told to. He led me to a large empty room with a large long table surrounded by uniform ornate chairs that sat directly in the middle of the room. He sat down at the head of the table and gestured for me to sit to his right so I graciously did. After a moment he spoke, his voice thick with distain "Cleary, what makes you think that you could possibly serve me better than I could serve myself?" This was beginning to feel far too much like a job interview. Though I suppose, in a sense it was; so I decided to go that way and recite a resume of sorts.

"Well, I come from highly credited lineage of purebloods, my ancestors date back to the time of Merlin and though it is not well known they are believed to have had a contract with Merlin himself. I've also graduated top of my class and I am anticipated to be one of the best Black Cloaks of our age, much like my father is, even though I want nothing to do with them. Besides how could anyone refuse the chance to serve the Dark Lord?" I said as if I believed it would be the greatest honor in the world. "My Lord, if I may be so bold, I would like to offer you my service as a Black Cloak. I require nothing of you but your approval."

I thought I saw a flash of anger on his face and his posture tense but it had been quickly replaced by a quizzical look. "What makes you think that I would ever believe that a Black Cloak would even think about joining me when, not only is the Academy so selective that they would not even consider anyone who would possibly have a thought to try the dark arts but you are in fact trained to fight against the darkest of magic. Trained fight against me."

"My Lord, I am a very good actor. The only reason I wanted into the Academy was to learn of the dark magick without any suspicion. After all, who would suspect a Black Cloak?" In truth, I am a good actor; a skill developed only after joining the Academy though and apparently one that reached Dumbledore's ears. "Truthfully I think the Black Cloaks, while well trained, are thick headed mud-blood" I almost flinched using the word in such a hateful tone; one of my closest friends is a Muggle-born "lovers. It's so wrong it makes me sick to even think about it. You however have much more realistic ideals. This world needs to be rid of the filth that stains it." I finished hoping I sound at least slightly passonate.

He seemed to contemplate if this made sense for a moment. "Then what of your family? You have a name to uphold. As you mentioned, your lineage is thought highly upon. "

"What family?" I snorted. "My stupid father with his idea of morals and equality. No. They are merely blood." It hurt to say, but I had to do it. There had to be no doubt left in the Dark Lord's mind that I was on his side. "It makes me sick. I'd rather die than live up to _that_."

He seemed slightly shocked for a moment but quickly regained his composure and smiled mischievously. "Well then Black Melissa Cleary I hereby do accept your offer of service. I will have a contract made up as soon as possible and a room will be made ready for you to move into this manor by the time the week is out. Extend your left arm."

I did as he asked. He drew out his wand placed it on my inner forearm and marked me as his. I wanted to vomit at the look of pleasure on his face as my arm seared with pain that made me want to scream but instead I smiled back at him hoping to seem as much devoted to him as I was disgusted by him. I met his eyes as the pain spread through my body, as if it were circulating in my veins like blood, searing every inch of me.

The Dark Lord closed his eyes for a moment then opened them and waited expectantly for a couple of minutes. "Come in." he said out of nowhere and I'm sure that confusion was clear on my face because the Dark Lord smiled knowingly. Then Professor Snape entered explaining the behavior, he must've be summoning him.

"My Lord." He bowed respectfully.

"Severus, escort Black Cleary out and explain to her how the mark works."

"Of course my Lord, is there any other way I may be of service?"

"Not tonight. You have done well, and shall be rewarded accordingly." He glared at professor Snape meeting his eyes.

The professor apparently saw something that I didn't because he couldn't seem to hide his fear. It was weird seeing him in fear. I'd never seen him in any other light than the always agitated potions professor. Regardless he nodded and without another word we left the room and I could not help but notice the way the Dark Lords eyes hungrily followed after me, as if I were his prey.

AN: **Please, Please, Please Review!** Was it O for Outstanding or D for Dreadful? Too long or short? Thoughts, opinions, ideas? Anything that seemed confusing? Anything at all (except just plain flaming.) I love constructive criticism!

Thanks to **Bramblerose4** for favoriting and putting this story on your alerts and sharing your thoughts and opinions with me. They were and still are helpful. Thanks to **nightworldangel **as well for putting this story on your alerts. Thanks again to **Snapegirlkmf **for letting me use the wonderful idea of Black Cloaks, I hope I'm not messing up the vision of them to badly.

I apologize if Voldemort seems a little ooc but I have reasons and a plan for this so bear with me, please.


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